Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256

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Solid State Sciences

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X-ray analysis of ZnO nanoparticles by WilliamsoneHall and sizeestrain plot

methods
A. Khorsand Zak a, b, *, W.H. Abd. Majid a, M.E. Abrishami b, Ramin Yousefi c
a
Low Dimensional Material Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
b
Electroceramics Laboratory, Department of physics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
c
Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University, Masjed-Soliman Branch, Masjed-Soliman, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were prepared by a solegel combustion method from a zinc acetate
Received 19 April 2010 precursor and acetic acid. The ZnO-NPs were synthesized at calcination temperatures of 650
C and
Received in revised form 750
C for 1 h. The synthesized ZnO-NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and TEM.
6 November 2010
The XRD results revealed that the sample product was crystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite phase. High-
Accepted 17 November 2010
Available online 24 November 2010
magnification transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed single-crystal ZnO-NPs with nearly
spherical shapes. The crystalline development in the ZnO-NPs was investigated by X-ray peak broad-
ening. The WilliamsoneHall (WeH) analysis and sizeestrain plot method were used to study the indi-
Keywords:
X-ray analysis
vidual contributions of crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of the ZnO-NPs. The
ZnO physical parameters such as strain, stress and energy density values were calculated more precisely for
Nanoparticle all the reflection peaks of XRD corresponding to the wurtzite hexagonal phase of ZnO lying in the range
Solegel synthesis of 20
e100
from the modified form of the WeH plot assuming a uniform deformation model (UDM),
uniform stress deformation model (USDM), uniform deformation energy density model (UDEDM) and by
the sizeestrain plot method (SSP). The results obtained showed that the mean particle size of the ZnO-
NPs estimated from the TEM, WeH analysis and the SSP method were highly intercorrelated.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction from perfect crystallinity leads to a broadening of the diffraction

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is known as an important semiconductor
which has been studied extensively in the past few years due to its
fundamental and technological importance. Its many attractive
properties, such as wide bandgap (3.37 eV), large exciton binding
energy and excellent chemical stability, suggest a great many
possible practical applications such as in gas sensors, ceramics,
field-emission devices and luminescent materials [1e3]. Particle
size and crystal morphology play important roles in these appli-
cations, which have driven researchers to focus on the synthesis of
nanocrystalline ZnO in recent years. Therefore, many methods,
including solegel [4] and solo-chemical processes [5], precipitation
[6], combustion synthesis [7], DC thermal plasma synthesis [8],
spray pyrolysis [9], pyrolysis [10], hydrothermal synthesis [11,12]
and others, have been developed to prepare ZnO nanopowders.
A perfect crystal would extend infinitely in all directions; there-
fore, no crystals are perfect due to their finite size. This deviation
* Corresponding author. Low Dimensional Material Research Center, Solid state
laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603,
Malaysia. Tel.: þ60 12 2850849; fax: þ60 37 9674146.
E-mail address: alikhorsandzak@gmail.com (A. Khorsand Zak).
peaks. The two main properties extracted from peak width analysis
are the crystallite size and lattice strain. Crystallite size is a measure
of the size of coherently diffracting domains. The crystallite size of
the particles is not generally the same as the particle size due to the
formation of polycrystalline aggregates [13]. Lattice strain is
a measure of the distribution of lattice constants arising from crystal
imperfections, such as lattice dislocations. Other sources of strain
include the grain boundary triple junction, contact or sinter stresses,
stacking faults and coherency stresses [14]. Crystallite size and lattice
strain affect the Bragg peak in different ways. Both these effects
increase the peak width and intensity and shift the 2q peak position
accordingly. The effect of strain, both uniform and nonuniform, on
the direction of X-ray reflection is illustrated in Fig. 1. A portion of an
unstrained grain appears in panel (a) on the left, and the set of
transverse reflecting planes shown has a uniform equilibrium
spacing d. The diffraction line from these planes appears on the right.
If a uniform tensile strain is applied to a grain at right angles to the
reflecting planes, their spacing becomes larger than d and the cor-
responding diffraction line shifts to lower angles but does not
otherwise change, as shown in panel (b). This line shift is the basis of
the X-ray method for the measurement of macrostress. In (c) the
grain is bent and the strain is nonuniform; on the top (tension) side

1293-2558/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solidstatesciences.2010.11.024
252 A. Khorsand Zak et al. / Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256

30
C. Then the temperature was increased to 45
C and zinc acetate

was gradually added to the solution. After 30 min, 50 mL acetic
acid was added to the clear solution and it was stirred again for
30 min at 40
C. The prepared sol was refluxed for 4 h at 110
C. The
container of the solution was placed in the water bath and the
temperature was kept at 80
C for 16 h to prepare a viscous gel from
the refluxed sol. Finally, a xerogel was obtained by treating the gel
with nitric acid. The xerogel was then calcined for 2 h at 650
C or
750
C to obtain a white ZnO-NP powder. Phase evolutions of the
ZnO-NPs were studied by X-ray diffractometry. The complete
procedure can be found in the literature [24].

3. Results and discussion

3.1. XRD analysis

The XRD patterns of the prepared samples are shown in Fig. 2.

All the detectable peaks could be indexed as the ZnO wurtzite
structure found in the standard reference data (JCPDS: 36e1451).
It was clearly seen that the reflection peaks became sharper with
increasing calcination temperature, indicating the enhancement of
crystallinity. The wurtzite lattice parameters such as the values of d,
the distance between adjacent planes in the Miller indices (hkl)
(calculated from the Bragg equation, l ¼ 2d sinq), lattice constants a,
b, and c, interplanar angle (the angle 4 between the planes (h1k1l1),
of spacing d1 and the plane (h2k2l2) of spacing d2), and unit cell
volumes are calculated from the Lattice Geometry equation as pre-
sented below [18]. The lattice parameters of the powders calcined
at different temperatures are summarized in Table 1.
!
1 4 h2 þ hk þ k2 l2
Fig. 1. A portion of an unstrained grain appears in (a), uniform tensile strain (b) and 2
¼ þ (1)
d 3 a2 c2
nonuniform strain (c). According to the figure the uniform strain affect the peak
position and the nonuniform strain affect the peak broadening and intensity.
pffiffiffi
3a2 c
the plane spacing exceeds d, whereas on the bottom (compression) V ¼ ¼ 0:866a2 c (2)
2
side it is less than d, and somewhere in between it equals do [15].
However, the peak width derived from crystallite size varies as 1 3a2
1/cosq, whereas strain varies as tanq. This difference in behavior as h1 h2 þ k1 k2 þ ðh1 k2 þ h2 k1 Þ þ 2 l1 l2
2 4c
cos4 ¼ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
a function of 2q enables one to discriminate between the size and    (3)
2 2 2 2
strain effects on peak broadening. The Bragg width contribution h1 þ k1 þ h1 k1 þ 4c2 l1 h2 þ k2 þ h2 k2 þ 3a
2 2 3a 2 2
4c2 2
l
from crystallite size is inversely proportional to the crystallite size
[16]. WeH analysis is a simplified integral breadth method where
size-induced and strain-induced broadening are deconvoluted by
considering the peak width as a function of 2q [17]. Although X-ray
profile analysis is an averaging method, apart from TEM imaging,
it still holds a dominant position in grain-size determination.
In this study, a solegel combustion method was used to prepare
ZnO-NPs. In addition, a comparative evaluation of the mean particle
size of the ZnO-NPs obtained from direct TEM measurements and
from powder XRD procedures is reported. The strain due to lattice
deformation associated with the ZnO-NPs calcined at 650
C
and 700
C was estimated by a modified form of WeH, namely
uniform deformation model (UDM). The other modified models,
such as uniform stress deformation model (USDM), uniform
deformation energy-density model (UDEDM) and the sizeestrain
plot method (SSP) provided information on the stressestrain
relation and the strain 3 as a function of energy density, (u).

2. Experimental

2.1. Sample synthesis and geometric characterization

Fig. 2. The XRD pattern of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C. The XRD pattern
To prepare 10 g of ZnO-NPs, 135 mL pure water was mixed with shows that the sample product is crystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite phase and free
65 mL isopropanol and the mixed solution was stirred for 5 min at from pyrochlore phases.
 A. Khorsand Zak et al. / Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256 253

Table 1
The structure parameters of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C.

Temperature
C 2q hkl dhkl Structure Lattice V Cos4

(nm) parameter (nm)3
(nm)
650 67.9 (112) 0.1379 Hexagonal a ¼ 0.3222 47.99 0.8480
69.0 (201) 0.1360 c/a ¼ 1.6562
750 68.0 (112) 0.1378 Hexagonal a ¼ 0.3224 47.75 0.8479
69.0 (201) 0.1390 c/a ¼ 1.6456

3.2. Particle size and strain

3.2.1. Scherrer method

XRD can be utilized to evaluate peak broadening with crystallite
size and lattice strain due to dislocation [19]. The particle size of the
ZnO-NPs was determined by the X-ray line broadening method
using the Scherrer equation: D ¼ (kl/bDcosq), where D is the particle
size in nanometers, l is the wavelength of the radiation (1.54056 A

for CuKa radiation), k is a constant equal to 0.94, bD is the peak width
at half-maximum intensity and q is the peak position. The breadth of
the Bragg peak is a combination of both instrument- and sample-
dependent effects. To decouple these contributions, it is necessary
to collect a diffraction pattern from the line broadening of a standard
material such as silicon to determine the instrumental broadening.
The instrument-corrected broadening [20] bD corresponding to the
diffraction peak of ZnO was estimated using the relation:
h  i
b2D ¼ b2 binsturmental 0
2
(4)
measured
Fig. 3. Sherrer plot of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C. Fit to the data, the
crystalline size D is extracted from the slope of the fit.
 
kl kl 1
D ¼ 0cosq (5)
bD cosq D bD

Plots were drawn with 1/bD on the x-axis and cosq along the
y-axis for the ZnO-NPs prepared at different temperatures such
that the preferred orientation peaks of ZnO with the wurtzite
hexagonal phase appeared between 2q ¼ 20
and 100
. By fitting
the data, the crystallite size D was extracted from the slope of the
fit line; see Fig. 3.

3.2.2. WilliamsoneHall methods

Strain-induced broadening arising from crystal imperfections
and distortion are related by 3 z bs/tanq. A remarkable property
of Eq. (5) is the dependency on the diffraction angle q. The WeH
method does not follow a 1/cosq dependency as in the Scherrer
equation but instead varies with tanq. This fundamental differ-
ence allows for a separation of reflection broadening when both
microstructural causes e small crystallite size and microstrain e
occur together. The different approaches presented in the following
assume that size and strain broadening are additive components
of the total integral breadth of a Bragg peak [21]. The distinct q
dependencies of both effects laid the basis for the separation of
size and strain broadening in the analysis of Williamson and
Hall. Addition of the Scherrer equation and 3 z bs/tanq results in
following equations:
bhkl ¼ bs þ bD (6)

 
kl
bhkl ¼ þ ð43tanqÞ (7)
Dcosq
Rearranging Eq. (7) gives:

 
kl Fig. 4. The WeH analysis of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C assuming UDM.
bhkl cosq ¼ þ ð43sinqÞ (8) Fit to the data, the strain is extracted from the slope and the crystalline size is extracted
D
from the y-intercept of the fit.
254 A. Khorsand Zak et al. / Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256

Fig. 5. The modified form of WeH analysis assuming USDM for ZnO-NPs calcinated at
650
C and 750
C. Fit to the data, the stress is extracted from the slope and the
crystalline size is extracted from the y-intercept of the fit.
Eq. (8) represents the UDM, where the strain was assumed to be
Fig. 6. The modified form of WeH analysis assuming UDEDM for ZnO-NPs calcinated
at 650
C and 750
C. Fit to the data, the density of energy is extracted from the slope
and the crystalline size is extracted from the y-intercept of the fit.

uniform in all crystallographic directions, thus considering the

isotropic nature of the crystal, where all the material properties are
independent of the direction along which they are measured. The
term (b cosq) was plotted with respect to (4 sinq) for the preferred
orientation peaks of ZnO-NPs with the wurtzite hexagonal phase.
Accordingly, the slope and y-intersect of the fitted line represent
strain and particle size, respectively. The plots showed a negative
strain for the ZnO-NPs. This strain may be due to the lattice
shrinkage that was observed in the calculation of lattice parame-
ters. The results of the UDM analysis for the ZnO-NPs are shown in
Fig. 4.
In the Uniform Stress Deformation Model, USDM, a generalized
Hooke’s law refers to the strain, keeping only the linear pro-
portionality between the stress and strain as given by s ¼ Y3, where s
is the stress of the crystal and Y is the modulus of elasticity or
Young’s modulus. This equation is merely an approximation that is
valid for a significantly small strain. Assuming a small strain to be
present in the ZnO-NPs, Hooke’s law can be used here. With a further
increase in strain, the particles deviate from this linear proportion-
ality. Applying the Hooke’s law approximation to Eq. (8) yields:

   
kl 4ssinq
bhkl cosq ¼ þ (9)
D Yhkl

For a hexagonal crystal, Young’s modulus is given by the

following relation [14]:
h 2  2 i 2
h2 þ ðhþ2kÞ þ alc
3
Yhkl ¼  2 2  4  2  2
s11 h2 þ ðhþ2kÞ
3 þs33 alc þð2s13 þs44 Þ h2 þ ðhþ2kÞ
3
al
c Fig. 7. The SSP plot of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C. The particle size is
achieved from the slop of the liner fitted data and the root of y-intercept gives the
(10) strain.
 A. Khorsand Zak et al. / Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256 255

estimated from the slope of these lines, and the crystallite size D
from the y-intercept; see Fig. 6. Previously, we had s ¼ 3Y and
u ¼ (32Yhkl)/2, where the stress s was calculated as u ¼ (s2/2Yhkl).
The results of these plots show a slight change in energy density
of the ZnO-NPs with increasing calcination temperature.

3.2.3. Size-strain plot method

The corresponding WilliamsoneHall plot showed that line
broadening was essentially isotropic. This indicates that the dif-
fracting domains were isotropic and there was also a microstrain
contribution. However, in cases of isotropic line broadening,
a better evaluation of the sizeestrain parameters can be obtained
by considering an average ‘‘sizeestrain plot” (SSP), which has the
advantage that less weight is given to data from reflections at high
angles, where the precision is usually lower. In this approximation,
it is assumed that the ‘‘crystallite size” profile is described by
a Lorentzian function and the ‘‘strain profile” by a Gaussian function
[23]. Accordingly, we have:

2 K 2   3 2
ðdhkl bhkl cosqÞ ¼ dhkl bhkl cosq þ (12)
D 2

Fig. 8. TEM micrographs of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 750
C. This figure shows

a nonuniform strain for some of the ZnO-NPs (ii as an example). The size distribution
and abundance of the ZnO-NPs was shown in inset.
where s11, s13, s33, s44 are the elastic compliances of ZnO with
values of 7.858  1012, 2.206  1012, 6.940  1012,
23.57  1012 m2 N1, respectively [22]. Young’s modulus, Y, for
hexagonal ZnO-NPs was calculated as w130 GPa. Plots were
drawn with (4 sin q)/Yhkl on the x-axis and bhkl cosq on the y-axis
for the ZnO-NPs calcined at different temperatures. The USDM
plots for ZnO-NPs calcined at 650
C and 750
C are shown in Fig. 5.
The stress calculated from the slope of the fitted line is slightly
greater for the ZnO-NPs calcined at 650
C than for those at 750
C.
There is another model that can be used to determine the
energy density of a crystal called the Uniform Deformation Energy
Density Model, UDEDM. In Eq. (9), the crystals are assumed to
have a homogeneous, isotropic nature. However, in many cases, the
assumption of homogeneity and isotropy is not justified. Moreover,
the constants of proportionality associated with the stressestrain
relation are no longer independent when the strain energy density
u is considered. For an elastic system that follows Hooke’s law,
the energy density u (energy per unit) can be calculated from
u ¼ (32Yhkl)/2. Then Eq. (9) can be rewritten according the energy
and strain relation.
   1=2 !
kl 2u
bhkl cosq ¼ þ 4sinq
D Yhkl
Plots of bhkl cosq versus 4 sinq(2u/Yhkl)1/2 were constructed
and the data fitted to lines. The anisotropic energy density u was
Where K is a constant that depends on the shape of the particles;
for spherical particles it is given as 3/4. In Fig. 7, similarly to the
WeH methods, the term (dhklbhkl cosq)2 is plotted with respect to
(d2hklbhkl cosq) for the all orientation peaks of ZnO-NPs with the
wurtzite hexagonal phase from 2q ¼ 15
to 2q ¼ 100
. In this case,
the particle size is determined from the slope of the linearly fitted
data and the root of the y-intercept gives the strain.
3.2.4. TEM method
TEM micrographs are the best way to investigate nanoparticle
size and shape. Fig. 8 displays a TEM image of the ZnO-NPs. It was
observed that the morphology of the ZnO-NPs was spherical and
with a smooth surface. The typical micrographs consisted of an
assembly of ZnO-NPs with an average diameter of 20  2 nm.
A nonuniform strain was also observed that for some of the parti-
cles, as shown in Fig. 8. This is in close agreement with the results
obtained from the powder XRD measurements.
The results obtained from the Scherrer method, UDM, USDM,
UDEDM, SSP models and TEM are summarized in Table 2. The
values of average crystallite size of the ZnO-NPs obtained from the
different models are more or less similar, implying that the inclu-
sion of strain in various forms has a very small effect on the average
crystallite size of ZnO-NPs. However, the average crystallite size
obtained from the Scherrer formula and the WeH analysis (see
Table 2) shows a greater variation because of the difference in
averaging the particle size distribution. By inspection of the plots,
(11) it appears that the result of the SSP model was more accurate
than the UDM, USDM and UDEDM methods, as the data were fitted
more accurately in this method, with all data points touching the
fitting line.

Table 2
Geometric parameters of ZnO-NPs calcinated at 650
C and 750
C.

Sample Scherrer WilliamsoneHall method SizeeStrain Plot method TEM

method
UDM USDM UDEDM

D D 3 no D (nm) 3 no s D 3 no s u D 3 no s u D
(nm) (nm) unit 103 unit 103 (MPa) (nm) unit 103 (MPa) (KJm3) (nm) unit 103 (MPa) (KJm3) (nm)
650 18.58 16.19 1.2006 16.57 0.9867 125.31 16.34 1.1015 139.90 77.051 15.97 1.1843 150.41 89.681 e
750 22.54 18.55 0.9302 18.77 0.8611 109.36 18.91 0.8104 102.92 41.702 17.69 0.8908 113.13 50.393 ∼20
256 A. Khorsand Zak et al. / Solid State Sciences 13 (2011) 251e256
4. Conclusions
ZnO-NPs were synthesized by a solegel combustion process and
characterized by powder XRD and TEM. The XRD indicated that
the wurtzite structure ZnO-NPs were free from any pyrochlore phase
at calcination temperatures of 650
C and 750
C. The line broad-
ening of ZnO-NPs calcined at 650
C and 750
C was due to the small
crystallite size and lattice strain. This broadening was analyzed by
the Scherrer formula, modified forms of WeH analysis and the
sizeestrain plot method. From the results, it was observed that the
strain value decreased but the particle size increased as calcination
temperature was increased. The TEM image of ZnO-NPs calcined at
750
C revealed an average particle size of about 20  2 nm and
a nonuniform strain in the particles. The TEM results were in good
agreement with the results of the WeH and the SSP methods.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by university of Malaya through grants
no: PS331\2009C and University Malaya HIRGA J-00000-73583.
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